Everyone loves the Pop-Tarts Bowl… literally.
According to ESPN PR, the third edition of the Pop-Tarts Bowl — which ended with BYU devouring Team Sprinkle’s Frosted Cherry and Frosted Cookies & Creme on the field following its win over Georgia Tech — drew in 8.7 million views, making it the most-watched non-College Football Playoff bowl game through Saturday, Dec. 27.
Known for its social media presence, here’s how the Pop-Tarts Bowl account reacted to the news:
The second most-watched non-CFP bowl game of this season was the game that preceded the Pop-Tarts Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 27: the Pinstripe Bowl. In what turned out to be its best viewership on record, 7.6 million viewers tuned in to watch Terry Smith’s Penn State Nittany Lions defeat Dabo Swinney’s Clemson Tigers inside Yankee Stadium in the snow and cold.
Rounding the top five for the most-watched non-CFP bowls are: the Gator Bowl between Missouri and Virginia (6.0 million views), the Rate Bowl between Minnesota and New Mexico (4.4 million) and the LA Bowl between Washington and Boise State (3.8 million).
The seventh-most-watched non-CFP bowl was the Texas Bowl between LSU and Houston, which could be connected to the fact that it was the first public appearance for new LSU coach Lane Kiffin since his introductory news conference. Kiffin, of course, left Ole Miss, which is now a win away from the CFP title game, for LSU and was brought on ESPN during the Tigers’ loss to the Cougars for an interview.
All of ESPN’s non-CFP bowl games are up 13% year-over-year and are averaging 2.7 million views per broadcast, according to ESPN. The numbers released by ESPN on Jan. 2 do not include TCU’s comeback overtime win in the Alamo Bowl over USC and the several non-CFP games on New Year’s Eve, including Arch Manning’s big day in Texas’ win over Michigan in the Citrus Bowl.
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